Of Radroaches and Men
by Neroarm
Summary: Story of the vaultdweller as he escapes from vault 101. Originally meant to be a one-shot, though I later decided to break it up as I couldn't finish it within one sitting :
1. Wake up into confusion

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Fallout franchise, this is my disclaimer :)**

I woke up to Amata babbling frantically about my father. I however didn't catch much of it as I was too interested in the red lights that were flashing down the hall.

"What's that?" I groaned, lifting my noncompliant legs out of the bed.

"… and Jonas, oh poor Jonas, they wouldn't stop hitting him!"

She hadn't even heard me, she was still rambling along.

_It always did take her an hour to get to the… wait, what'd she say about Jonas?_

"Holdup, what happened to Jonas?"

She stopped mid-sentence and gave me the 'Amata Death-Stare' which usually implied that I had done something wrong.

"Haven't you been listening to me!"

_Why is she so mad?_

"Yes!"

_Damn, that came out too strong, no way she'll believe that._

I glanced around the room, first at the alarm clock - it was 2:35 a.m. - then at dads bed which was empty.

"Where'd my dad go?" I said sort of lazily, I didn't want to sound too worried.

Amata took in a deep breathe as if she were going to assault me with her next words.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you, your dad and Jonas figured out how to open the vault!"

"What, that's impossible, the vaults sealed you cant open it- wait!"

I tried to focus solely on the conversation but the lights flashing in through the windows wasn't making it easy.

"So where is he?" It was the only thing I was concerned with at this point.

"He's gone!"

Her words finally sunk in; my father and Jonas had managed to somehow open the vaults door, a door which hadn't been opened since the day it closed.

"Look, there's no time, we have to get you out of here!"

She reached into her pocket, retrieved a pistol, and shoved it into my hand.

"What the- where did you get this?"

I gave the gun a lazy shake which was meant to display its' dangerousness.

"What, your training to be a guard right?"

_Oh, your not getting off the hook that easily._

"WHAT are you doing with a gun Amata?" I was thoroughly confused.

"My father has his men looking for you…"

She cupped her hands and buried her face into her palms.

"I think they're going to hurt you."

_I can't believe this._

"W-why!"

She pulled her reddening face from her hands, took a deep breathe, then swallowed.

"I don't know, I'm guessing because of what your dad and Jonas did."

She ran over to the intercom and turned it on. Amata's father, the overseer, was broadcasting to the entire vault that I was a threat, and that any resident that sees me should inform a guard right away.

"What's this shit?" I couldn't believe this man.

"Look, it's going to be okay, I've got a plan to get out of here."

She reached into her pocket again, this time she pulled out a hair clip.

"There's a secret underground tunnel in my dads' office, it leads to the vaults main door, the door your dad used."

"Pfft." I couldn't help but snicker at this.

"What the hell are you laughing about?"

"The whole vault is underground Amata." I struggled to finish my sentence without laughing.

Amata looked as if she were going to take the gun she had just given me and shoot me with it.

"There are armed guards looking for you right now, and your laughing at me?"

_Wait she's got a point, in fact, why have they not gotten here yet? They must know where I live, what's keeping them? _

"Look, just use this to get into his office, that's how I always get in."

She said it with an odd sense of pride as she handed me the hair clip.

"I'll meet you down there if I can, if not… just, thanks for everything."

She turned decisively and ran from the room; I watched through the windows as she ran down the hall and out of sight.

"Okay." I took a deep breath and headed out the door and into the hall.

_

* * *

_

_Well this is a great idea._

I gripped the pistol in my hand and turned the corner.

"Well shit."

_Radroaches. Big, ass, fucking, Radroaches._

They made a shrill screeching sound, like a piece of charred wood grinding against a tin can. There was three of them that I could see, but there was never just three of them. The vault had had its problems with Radroaches in the past, a few would show up in the lower levels first, then a swarm of them would follow suit.

_The guards usually take care of these things, I wonder if that's the reason behind these annoying lights._

The one closest to me jumped forward, snapping its feelers at my legs. I wanted to kick it away but I was afraid it would bite my toes off. So instead, I took aim with the pistol Amata somehow acquired, and fired.

_What the hell?_

It jammed.

_Son of a bitch!_


	2. Allies and Enemies

Snapping and scraping ensued in my desperate bid to crawl from the clutches of the radroaches.

I reached for the handle of a nearby bathroom as one of the roaches stuck its sticky legs to my foot and attempted to run off with it. I kicked frantically at it with my free leg, though this only produced wild chirps and gurgles that I could only interpret as "Oi! Quit kicking me!"

"Hes over here!" I heard what I assumed was one of the overseers guards.

"Ah crap." I moaned as I lay beneath the pile of 'yuck' and 'ooh get it off' and knew it was the end.

I heard "Boohyah." followed by a sharp cracking sound. I had just been saved by Butch and the Tunnelsnakes. I turned to see the remaining radroaches, one of which was missing an antenna, scurry down the hall in defeat.

_What the hell?_

Butch stood heroically with a Vault Tech Big Leagues baseball bat resting on his shoulder like he'd just slayed a dragon.

_Ugh, I'd rather of died._

"Who's the man...!" Butch waited for his 'lackeys' to finish his sentence.

"You the man!" They cheered in unison and Butch raised the bat into the air to accept the claim.

_Just hit me. Hit me right in the face. Just bring it down tough guy._

But he didn't, and I was forced to accept his hand as he offered it to help me up from my horribly embarrassing position. After pulling me up he immediately wiped his hand on his jumpsuit, prompting me to notice the splattered radroach guts on my own jumpsuit.

"Gah! Thanks a lot Butch, now I'm covered in goop!" I bitched.

He in turn pointed the bat in my face.

"Hey, I just saved your sorry ass and your worried about a little guts on your dress?"

_Okay I deserve that one._

"So... what, are you gonna drag me to the overseer now big shot?" I questioned.

"Overseer? Heck no, we wanna get outta this dump, ya know like your pops." He looked at his pals and they all nodded very serious like. "And since your his kid, you should know how he got out, and your gonna help us got it?

"I don't know how he got out-" I tried to explain but Butch interrupted me.

"Listen you! I know all about you and Amatas little plan to escape, so you-" It was my turn to interrupt him.

"How did you know about that?" I pressed.

He looked kind of confused for a moment, like I had asked him to solve a mathematical problem, or any problem for that matter.

"Duh, well..." His face began to contort into what I could only describe as 'stupid'.

"We saw her talkin' to her pops by the cells on the second level." He explained straight out like it hadn't just taken him a full minute to retrieve the information from his thick skull.

"Is she in trouble?"

"Well the overseer did have a guard there standing with'em." He recalled.

"Argh." I paced for a second, checked the jammed pistol in my pocket, then looked at Butch and the gang.

"Fine, here's the deal, you help me get Amata and you guys can tag with us." I bargained, hoping Butch hadn't lost his new-found courage.

"Eh, I don't know, the overseers got guards and we only-" He started.

"Look, you said its only one guard, plus the overseer, plus there's four of us, if we sneak up and jump them they'll never have time to call for backup." I argued.

"Four to Two." Wally chipped in with a very stoic nod.

Butch looked around at his buddies and the radroaches scurrying about.

"Yeah! An' we can get'em easy with all this chaos going on!" He finally yelled out.

It would be not much longer until I learned what _real_ chaos was.

Wally tossed a pair of brass knuckles my way as we headed down the hall when something caught my eye. At the opposite end of the hallway, a radroach with one antenna sat glaring at me.

_Mother Fu-_


End file.
